The present invention relates to a universal advertising and payment system and method for networking, monitoring, collecting data, selling goods and services, controlling interactive advertising, controlling and effectuating electronic commerce and controlling vending equipment including cold drink and snack style vending machines. The present invention also relates to physical and virtual networking of vending machines and network hardware, server based network control, and network security. The present invention can be implemented in a manner to allow operational monitoring and control of networks (and network hardware), vending machines, electronic mail (e-mail), electronic commerce (e-commerce), electronic business (e-business), payment for goods and services, delivery of goods and services, and advertising worldwide.
The growth of the Internet has created a new way to buy, sell, trade, and barter goods and services worldwide. This new form of buying, selling, trading, and bartering may commonly be referred to as electronic commerce or e-commerce, and or electronic business or e-business. The process of conducting these types of transactions can be called an electronic commerce transaction, electronic business transaction, e-commerce transaction, or e-business transaction.
As individuals become more reliant on the Internet for e-mail, e-commerce, and or e-business the demands for access to the Internet may increase. In addition, to the buying, selling, trading, and bartering supported on the Internet other services vital to daily business may also be performed online. The escalating demands for access to the Internet can result in increased e-commerce and e-business opportunities.
There are numerous problems for Internet based businesses (referred to as virtual companies or virtual businesses) in that increased competition on the Internet may see their growth and profits diminish. The barrier to entry of a virtual company can be little more than a computer hooked to the Internet. As more web sites appear selling similar products, a virtual company""s ability to differentiate itself from other virtual companies may diminish. Head-to-head competition and transaction processing fees may shrink profit margins, potentially jeopardizing an entire business enterprise.
In addition to virtual companies having to compete with other virtual companies, virtual companies have to compete with brick and mortar type companies. Brick and mortar type companies may be referred to as physical companies. Physical companies are companies with physical locations that the public can access.
Physical companies may have some advantages over virtual companies. For example, in many cases physical companies can keep tabs on competition by monitoring and counting the competitions physical locations.
On other fronts, physical companies that sell perishable, or impulse items in the public may suffer from the inability to develop e-businesses solutions to compete with virtual companies. For example, cold drink and snack food vending machines tend to sell impulse items in the public. This type of business may find it hard to develop an e-business solution to complement and or expand their traditional business due in part to the way they currently sell and distribute products and servicesxe2x80x94namely in the public, not online.
In certain industries, for example the vending industry, the products sold can result in what might be considered a micro transaction. Micro transactions are typically small transactions in the range of one dollar to ten dollars. The determination as to whether or not to accept credit cards as payment for micro transactions may hinge on the cost of doing business, namely transaction processing fees.
With respect to the vending industry, a number of factors may prevent a vending machine which has remaining inventory ready for sale, from selling that inventory due in part to the payment methods being utilized. For example, a popular size of cold drink can be vended in twenty ounce bottles for a price in excess of one dollar. If the vending machine only accepted cash and coins, in many cases the dollar bill validator would fill with currency, or the coin changer would be emptied of change before the entire beverage inventory, within the vending machine, is sold. The result can be that a vending machine with inventory ready to sell can no longer accept cash, no longer make change, and no longer execute sales. This can also impact the route man who services the vending machine in that a service call must be performed to replenish the change supply and empty the dollar bill validator before the vendor can again vend beverages.
A number of deficiencies support the long felt need of the present invention, including the inability of certain vending machines to vend entire product inventories before coin and bill acceptors become inoperable (bill acceptors filled to capacity and or coin changers emptied). Furthermore, the needs within the vending industry to cost justify the acceptance of micro transactions as a form of payment for vended products and services.
In addition, the avoidance of shrinking profit margins resultant from transaction processing fees. These transaction processing fees can be associated with traditional credit card transaction processing as well as e-commerce and e-business type transaction processing.
A further deficiency can include not being able to offer credit cards as an alternative form of payment, due in part to the negative impact transaction processing fees may have on the economics and or profitability of the business model or business propositionxe2x80x94as may be the case in the vending industry.
The present invention is embodied in a simple and effective system and method for processing a wide variety of credit card, e-commerce, and e-business type transactions, to name a few. In addition the present invention embodies a universal control and payment system to distribute and display interactive advertising, conduct electronic mail, electronic commerce, electronic business, and control the billing for the use of vending equipment. Vending equipment can include beverage and snack type vending machines copiers, phones (public, private, cellular), facsimile machines, printers, data-ports, laptop print stations, notebook computers, palmtop computers (PALM PILOT), microfiche devices, projectors, scanners, cameras, modems, communication access, personal data assistants (PDA""s), pagers, and other types of vending machines, personal computers (PC), PC terminals (NET PC), and network computers (NC).
One aspect of the present invention provides transaction processing and interfacing to a wide variety of vending machines. Another aspect of the present invention provides a system for public access to electronic mail (e-mail), electronic commerce (e-commerce), and electronic business (e-business). More specifically, the present invention can control, monitor, and effectuate e-mail, e-commerce, and e-business transactions such that the general public can use the present invention as a public access electronic commerce station. E-business includes data communication related to business activities, and includes financial related information, and public transportation information.
Another aspect of the present invention provides the ability to route e-mail, e-commerce, and e-business transactions, allowing e-mail, e-commerce, e-business transactions including credit card and other types of transactions to be processed in an online environment.
It is understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive of the invention.